


after everything ends

by deviltakethehindmost



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Armitage Hux Has Issues, Armitage Hux Lives, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Past Abuse, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28077546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deviltakethehindmost/pseuds/deviltakethehindmost
Summary: Instead of leaving him to die Poe drags Hux onto the Falcon and forces him to be rescued. But now the War is finally over and Poe needs to work out exactly what he's going to do with the former First Order General.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i am fully just writing this to avoid the essay i have due in two days. haven't even proof read it bc i really do need to start this essay!! will update when i've escaped this essay writing hell.

When he looked back on it Poe still wasn’t quite sure what the hell he’d been thinking. He supposed this whole situation meant that he could no longer deny that he had a bit of a hero complex. The others had clearly thought he’d lost his mind at the time and even now they shot him looks that showed they still didn’t understand. The problem was Poe didn’t really understand either. 

General Hux of the First Order, the Spy, had lost consciousness not long after Poe had essentially dragged him onboard the Falcon. He’d been shot in the leg by Finn at his own request and then fought so viciously to be left behind that Poe was surprised he hadn’t passed out sooner. 

Now, after everything, they were back at base. The War was finally over and Poe spent little time thinking about their captured General. It was only after a few hours of celebration that he remembered the man who languished in their single holding cell. Before he even processed what he was doing, he found himself outside the cell with some leftovers from dinner and a canteen of water balanced on a tray in his hands. 

When he opened the door Hux spun around and leapt to his feet, putting as much distance between them as possible. Their eyes met and Poe was struck by the almost feral look in the other man’s eyes. 

“I just thought I’d bring you some food, Hugs,” Poe said and tried his best to keep his voice casual as he sat the tray down on Hux’s bed. 

Hux barely nodded in response and when Poe took a step towards him, he took so many steps backwards that he was soon pressed against the wall. His behaviour reminded Poe of a trapped wild animal. 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said and watched as Hux’s head snapped up. 

“Yes you are,” Hux snapped in reply. 

“What are you talking about?” 

As he spoke Poe slowly stepped towards Hux, he kept walking until they were within arm’s reach of each other. Hux seemed to shrink away for no more than a second, before something seemed to change in him and he rose up to his full height. Although he now towered over Poe, the vulnerable look in his eyes meant this display didn’t have its intended effect. 

“Surely you plan to execute me,” Hux said and Poe faltered. 

Of course the thought had crossed his mind and had been thoroughly discussed as an option. It had been ruled out almost immediately though. The War was over and no more blood would be shed for it. Execution was hardly the Resistance’s style anyway.  
It was then, while somewhat lost in his thoughts that he noticed the blood on Hux’s cheek. Before he’d even really considered what he was doing, Poe reached out to wipe the blood away but was shocked when Hux flinched away, his eyes wide with panic. 

“Sorry, you just have some blood on your-”

“Don’t touch me, Dameron,” Hux hissed with so much venom that Poe almost stepped backwards. 

A silence stretched out between them as Hux regained his composure. Poe rifled in his pockets, found a fairly clean rag and offered it to Hux, who after a long moment, took it from him and used it to dab the blood from his cheek. 

“We aren’t going to execute you,” Poe said, finally breaking the silence. 

“Why not?” Hux asked, seemingly genuinely confused by this development. 

“The War is over. I won’t allow anyone else to die,” Poe replied and the way Hux looked at him made him come to the realisation that he knew nothing of the last few days, “Palpatine is dead and the First Order is destroyed.”

Hux looked down at the ground. 

“And Ren?”

“Dead too. Sacrificed himself to save Rey.”

Another silence stretched out. 

“Right.”

Poe thought about leaving but decided against it.

“I’ve never thanked you for saving our lives,” Poe said and the sudden loudness of his voice seemed to startle both of them, “So yeah, thank you.”

“As I’ve said before, I didn’t do any of it for you. I wanted Ren to lose,” Hux replied but it lacked the anger of before. 

“And now he has lost.”

“Yes.”

“So what’s the plan now then?” Poe asked, genuinely quite interested in the response.  
“I don’t know, you ruined my actual plan so-”

“You mean the one where you were executed by Pryde for being a traitor?” Poe replied with a raised eyebrow. 

Hux opened his mouth as though about to respond numerous times. After this he frowned and Poe almost laughed. He didn’t though, this was still the infamous General Hux after all. 

“Well, sadly for you, Hugs, nobody is going to execute you now so we’ll just have to work out what we’re going to do with you.” 

And Poe didn’t have the faintest idea what they were going to do with him. It wasn’t like they could just release the Starkiller, one of the worst war criminals the galaxy had ever seen. The aforementioned man seemed to be done with their conversation, he stared past Poe as though he hardly even saw him. 

“Bye then. Enjoy your food.”

As he left Poe felt the weight that had lifted with their victory merely hours before, settle back down on his shoulders. Meanwhile his mind couldn’t seem to stop replaying the way Hux had flinched when he’d tried to touch him. Poe sighed as he made his way back up to rejoin the celebrations and tried to ignore the unbearable thought that he had started to feel pity towards General Hux.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at me, updating less than a week after posting. i am literally just making this up as i go and slowly working out an idea for the long term plot so bear with me!!

“How’s the leg?” Poe asked, as he stepped into Hux’s cell for his daily visit. 

He wasn’t entirely sure why he bothered to spend at least twenty minutes every day visiting a man who usually either ignored him or gave him one word responses. 

“Fine,” Hux replied, and then too Poe’s surprise added, “A lot better actually.”

“Well, I brought you a present,” Poe grinned and revealed the walking cane that he’d been keeping hidden behind his back. 

Hux stared at the cane, a completely unreadable expression on his face, or at least from what Poe could see. The man’s hair had grown long and untidy as had his beard. Combined with his pale skin and bloodshot eyes, he somehow managed to look even less well than usual. 

Even though he’d briefly become a little lost in his own thoughts, Poe realised that Hux still hadn’t taken the cane from his hands. He thrust it a little further and couldn’t help but notice how Hux seemed to just manage to suppress his urge to flinch away. Eventually, after what felt like an age, he reached out and took the cane from Poe’s hands. 

Poe watched as Hux’s long pale fingers examined the sleek, black metal of the cane. He’d seen it on a market stall the last time they’d gone to another planet to pick up supplies and had been unable to avoid the compulsion to purchase it for this man. Finn had given him a long look when he’d seen it, obviously immediately reasling who it was for. It was a mistake, even by Poe’s standards, a truly stupid idea, he should not be buying gifts for Former Generals of the First Order, no matter how much he felt the desperate urge to show the man the kindness he had clearly never experienced before in his life. 

He stopped his train of thought right there. Thoughts like that would only end badly. 

Hux looked up at him, his eyes were wide and seemed to be desperately trying to find some reasoning behind this gift. 

“I just -” Poe started and then paused, “You’ll need to walk with one for a while.”

“Thank you,” Hux said, he’d looked back down at the cane in his hands and spoke so quietly that Poe almost missed it. 

“No worries, Hugs,” Poe grinned and was unbelievably relieved to see Hux’s head snap back up, his signature frown already in place, “Do you want to give it a shot?”

“I’m sure it’ll be quite sufficient.” 

“No, I mean,” Poe faltered, “Do you want to go for a walk? Outside?”

Hux surveyed him for a long moment, clearly trying to work out what Poe’s real intentions were, and Poe tried to ignore what sort of life a man who thought someone offering a walk must have terrible intentions, must have had. He almost missed Hux’s small nod. 

Once they were outside the cell, Hux seemed to shrink in on himself and Poe found himself moving a little closer before he could stop himself. They managed to get outside without incident and he really did try his best not to stare at Hux’s long, pale exposed throat as the man stared up at the grey sky above them. 

His leg was clearly bothering him a lot so they walked very slowly around the perimeter of the base. When Hux stumbled and they stopped, Poe wished he hadn’t reached out and softly touched his hip in an attempt to reassure him. Of course, Hux’s head snapped up to look at him but this time he didn’t look scared, if Poe had to guess, he’d say he looked confused and maybe a little curious. 

When they arrived back at the cell Hux all but collapsed onto his bed and sighed deeply. Poe stared at the wall in a desperate bid to not get caught looking. 

“Look if there’s anything else you need just let me know.”

Poe hadn’t expected a reply and so was shocked when Hux’s voice rang out. 

“Maybe a razor? Or some scissors?” he asked, his voice quiet, nervous, “I really, really detest looking like a tramp.” 

*

It was only once he’d arrived at Hux’s cell the next day that Poe realised he couldn’t just hand over this selection of sharp blades to him and let him go wild. 

‘Evening, Hugs. Sorry I’m a bit late today, busy day and then I had to track down this stuff,” he said. 

Hux nodded in greeting but Poe noticed the way his eyes brightened when he saw the scissors and the razor. 

There was a moment of silence as he sat everything down next to the sink. 

“You know I’m going to have to do this for you, right?”

Clearly Hux had not realised this and a little blush appeared on the top of his cheekbones. Poe tried not to smile. He turned on the hot tap and let it run to ensure the water warmed up a little bit. A long silence drew out between them. Poe grabbed the chair that usually sat ignored in the corner and dragged it over to beside the sink, then looked up at Hux and motioned for him to sit on it. It was a little surprising when, without any complaint, Hux did as he was told. For some reason, the man was clearly desperate for this haircut. 

Starting with the mop of red hair seemed like a good idea. Not because it would be easier but because he was trying to delay the terribly intimate seeming act of shaving someone else for as long as possible. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a fairly simple process and he quickly found Hux had started to look more like his old self with his hair short and held in place by its own dampness. 

So then it was time to be brave and get it over and done with. Poe allowed Hux to wash his own face and coat his beard in the foam from the soap he’d brought with him. 

He leaned towards Hux with the razor, it was only then he noticed Hux was shaking. His eyes were pressed tightly closed and when Poe glanced down he saw his fists were clenched tight. 

“Hey, hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” Poe said, softly, and Hux’s eyes opened. They were very close. 

“I know that. Sorry. I have no idea what’s come over me,” Hux replied, his voice incredibly quiet and strained, “Just give me a moment.”

“This can wait, you don’t need to worry-”

“No. It can’t,” Hux said, his voice suddenly very determined. 

“I had no idea you were so vain, General,” Poe chuckled and then chuckled again when he saw the murderous look Hux shot him. 

“It is not vanity,” he replied, his voice attempting an impression of being cold and passive, but a little waver gave it away. 

Poe took a step backwards, keen to put some distance between them. He leaned back against the sink and gave Hux a long considering look. 

“What is it then?” he asked. 

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I just don’t enjoy having a beard.”

“Nope. Come on, tell me,” he tried to coax Hux with a small smile. 

“You were right, I am incredibly vain,” Hux sighed and Poe laughed. 

“It is a shame to cover a pretty face like yours but, sorry Hugs, I’m not buying it.”

In an attempt to push Hux for an answer Poe started to turn around to put the razor away. He could see the man stiffen. 

“It makes me look like my father.” 

It seemed as though the words had spilled from Hux’s lips before he’d even realised himself. When Poe turned back round, Hux had brought his hand to his lips as though he planned to physically prevent himself from elaborating any further. 

“What?”

“You heard me, Dameron.”

Poe hadn’t expected that. It really didn’t help with his whole ‘stop pitying the mass-murderer’ plan. He took a deep breath, nodded and stepped closer to Hux again, who was looking at him with wide, curious eyes. As soon as the razor, Hux’s eyes closed and Poe found himself incredibly glad not to be under his intense gaze any longer. 

Thankfully, they managed to get through it without any disasters, just a couple of small nicks to the skin that hardly bled at all. It only took about ten minutes for Hux to look eerily like he’d somehow just walked off of the Finaliser. 

As soon as Poe was done he cleaned everything up and Hux moved to the mirror to assess Poe’s work. He stood there for an almost uncomfortably long time and Poe had become increasingly desperate to break the strange tension that seemed to have built up between them.

“So Papa Hux wasn’t a nice guy then?” 

“Fuck off.”

“Should have known really,” Poe said casually. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It all makes sense now. Everything you’ve done.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, it all just screams daddy issues.”

Considering he did still have a severely injured leg Hux moved incredibly quickly and was on Poe in seconds. However, Poe was the best pilot in the galaxy and his reaction was far speedier. He used Hux’s momentum to spin them around and pin Hux against the wall, making sure he held his wrists above his head.This was the man he remembered, the one from all that First Order Propaganda, eyes wild and spitting with pure rage. 

‘Calm it, Hugs.”

“Fuck. You. Dameron.” he snarled. 

“Oh come on, I think we both know if that ever happened it would definitely be the other way around,” Poe smiled and waited as it took a moment for his meaning to dawn on Hux, who turned a shade of scarlet that would be quite endearing in other circumstances. 

For another few minutes Hux continued to snarl and curse and do everything he could to push in vain against his restraints. Although he’d always known Hux was a skinny guy, Poe was still shocked by just how little strength he seemed to have. Finally he seemed to calm down and Poe allowed the grip on his wrists to loosen, it would probably leave Hux with bruises but he didn’t let himself dwell on that. 

He completely released Hux and stepped away, anticipating another attack was imminent. Instead, to his surprise, the other man slid down the wall and sat there staring at the ground in front of him. 

“Go away,” Hux said and Poe didn’t need to be told twice; he grabbed his things and was out of the door in a matter of seconds. 

As he all but ran back to his quarters, Poe considered that it would maybe be for the best if he didn’t tell anyone else about what had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does brendol hux canonical have a beard? don't know. don't care.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that my update schedule is currently whenever i have more than an hour of free time

He’d avoided visiting Hux in his cell for almost two weeks after their altercation. Instead Finn and Rose had been taking turns at dropping off his meals, and had even started to spend some time keeping him company. Rey had tried to help too but Hux apparently wasn’t entirely comfortable in the company of Force users. This hardly came as a surprise to Poe, he’d been the victim of Kylo Ren’s torture only once, he could hardly imagine what Hux had gone through for all of those years.

From what they’d told him Hux was growing increasingly bored and irritated with his situation. That was hardly a surprise. They’d had countless conversations but the simple fact of the matter was that nobody knew what to do with their prisoner. However, it was still quite a surprise when Rose cornered him at lunchtime. 

“I think you should drop off dinner tonight,” she said, as she moved herself in front of the door Poe was about to attempt to go through. 

“No. I think it’s for the best if you and Finn keep doing it,” he replied and stepped to the side, intending to edge past her but Rose quickly moved to block him again. 

“He asked for you.”

That came as a surprise to Poe. Hux didn’t strike him as the sort of person who had ever asked after anyone in his life. 

“Did he really?” Poe asked with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm, judging by the slight frown Rose gave him. 

“Well, not really, but he’s been making more and more snide comments about you,” she replied, “I think he misses you.”

Poe didn’t want to think about that as a possibility. He’d managed to pretend that the only reason he’d avoided Hux was their argument, not any possible complicated feelings that may have started to develop over the past few months. 

“Look, I’ll think about it,” he replied. 

“You can’t avoid him forever, you know,” Rose said and fixed him with a long, hard stare that made Poe feel like she knew exactly what he was thinking. 

Thankfully she decided to leave him alone after that. 

*

Of course, he didn’t visit Hux at dinner. Rose had offered him the tray but he’d refused and gone back to his game of holochess. Now, hours later, in the dead of night, he lay awake. As Poe stared at the ceiling there was one thought that refused to leave his mind. 

He sighed and got up. At first he considered a trip to the canteen for a cup of caf but soon found that his feet had carried him to the one place he’d been hoping to avoid. 

He knocked and turned the light on as he walked in. Hux immediately shot up so he sat upright, his eyes wide with panic for the briefest of seconds before they narrowed to a glare at Poe. 

“What do you want, Dameron?” he hissed, which would have probably been a lot scarier if his hair wasn’t stuck up at such endearingly odd angles. 

That was a good question that Poe did not have an answer to. Hux continued to stare at him and eventually Poe shrugged. 

“I thought you might want to stretch your legs?” Poe asked and was incredibly surprised when, after only a brief pause, Hux nodded. 

He stood up on shaky legs and quickly grabbed his cane from where it leaned against the wall. Poe briefly considered reaching out and offering his arm but quickly dismissed that as an incredibly stupid idea. 

They exited the cell in silence, he slowed down as subtly as he possibly could to match Hux’s pace. It was clear that his leg still caused him a lot of pain. Poe made a mental note to check if it needed further medical attention at some point soon. 

Once they were outside Poe reached into his jacket and removed a packet of cigarettes. After he’d lit the cigarette and taken a long drag, he noticed that Hux watched him intently with a slightly desperate expression. He took the cigarette from his mouth and offered it to Hux, a brief flash of disgust across the man’s face, but he took it. 

Poe tried not to look at the elegant way Hux held the cigarette and the way the tension seemed to drain from his shoulders as he took a drag. 

They passed the cigarette between them, smoking in silence. 

“You didn’t strike me as a smoker,” Poe said and Hux shot him an odd look that he couldn’t work out. 

“There’s lots you don’t know about me,” Hux replied. 

“Clearly.”  
There was another silence, as Poe stubbed out the cigarette and tried to think of something else to say. 

“Sorry for my outburst the other week,” Hux said, his voice so quiet that Poe almost missed it. 

“It’s alright,” Poe replied, after what was probably too long a pause. 

“Surely if it was alright then you wouldn’t have been avoiding me,” Hux said, in a much more assured tone this time. 

This wasn’t a conversation Poe had hoped to have. In fact, he’d honestly hoped that they’d both be too awkward to ever mention the incident ever again. 

“I wasn’t angry or anything,” he assured, “Well maybe I was a bit angry at first.” 

He paused to look over at Hux, who unsurprisingly had fixed him with a very intense stare. 

“When we first got you back here and you were in the medbay, I saw the scars on your back. Well, I saw all the other bruises and cuts and stuff, but I know what old scars look like, those are decades old and-”

“Dameron, don’t,” Hux almost whispered and reached out to grasp his arm in what seemed like a desperate attempt to stop him from saying anything else. 

“They were your dad though, right?” Poe asked and tried not to outwardly react when Hux nodded. 

And that was the issue. Poe wanted to hate Hux, he really did, the man was a genocidal maniac after all. Before all of this it had been so easy to hate him. If he was completely honest this was the real reason he’d done everything he could to avoid this conversation. 

Hux started to walk then, at a much quicker pace than before. However, it was not quick enough that Poe couldn’t catch up in a few long strides. When Hux realised this he halted his escape. 

“Yes, Dameron, it was my father,” he closed his eyes and admitted.

Later on he would regret his actions but at the moment Poe closed the distance between them and wrapped Hux in a tight embrace before he could even really begin to consider the consequences of such actions. Of course Hux stood there frozen, like a man who had never been hugged, which could quite possibly be the case. 

To his credit Hux didn’t pull away or even struggle, he waited until Poe finally pulled away before putting a good few feet between them. Poe decided it was for the best if he didn’t push his luck so he motioned and they began their slow walk back to the cell. 

When they arrived Hux almost collapsed onto the bed, his face contorted in pain. Poe tried not to overthink too much as he sat down on the bed too. He was surprised when Hux didn’t immediately pull away when their thighs pressed together. 

“What’s going to happen to me?” Hux asked, in that same quiet tone as earlier. 

“I don’t know,” Poe admitted. 

They sat in silence. Due to how close they were, Poe didn’t want to turn around to face Hux so peered at him from the corner of his eye. The other man stared straight down at the ground, his hands clenched into tight fists. 

“It’ll all be ok though,” Poe said, more because he just felt he had to say something rather than any sort of belief in the truth of his statement. 

At first he expected Hux to come back with a snarky comment but it didn’t come. He waited another couple of seconds and still there was nothing. Then, finally, he turned his head and faced Hux, who looked up at him with such a unguarded pained expression that Poe was on the verge of doing something incredibly stupid. He leaned in just a little and noticed how Hux glanced down at his lips before he looked back up and their eyes met. 

Just as he made the decision to close the gap between them, Hux practically jumped to his feet, stumbled but managed to right himself and put as much distance between them as he possibly could. 

“I’m actually quite tired, it would probably be best if you left,” Hux announced and directed his gaze everywhere except at Poe. 

“Hux, I-”

“Please, I’m tired.”

Poe sighed, suddenly overwhelmed with the terrible weight of the mistake he’d just made. He stood up and walked quickly to the door, which he opened and, as he was about to step through, considered not leaving. He left the cell without turning back around and walked without stopping until he was back in his own room. 

There he laid down in his bed and didn’t sleep at all for the rest of the night, unable to force his brain to stop as it continued to replay his own unbelievably stupid behaviour.


End file.
